Air conditioning systems



June 26, 1962 c. M. ASHLEY ET AL 3,041,047

AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 13, 1956 1 l 1 i i i i l FIG.

INVENTORS. CARLYLE M. ASHLEY. WILLIAM H. ROBERTS.

ATTORNEY.

JAIO

June 26, 1962 c. M. ASHLEY ETAL AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 15, 1956 INVENTORS. CARLYLE M. ASHLEY. WILLIAM H. ROBERTS.

ATTORNEY.

c. M. ASHLEY ETAL 3,041,047

AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS June 26, 1962 Filed Jan. 15, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet :5

FIG. 4

\M' INVENTORS.

CARLYLE M. ASHLEY.

WILLIAM H. ROBERTS.

BY WJLQL ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,041,047 AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS Carlyle M. Ashley, Fayetteville, and William H. Roberts,

Syracuse, N.Y., assiguors to Carrier Corporation, Syracuse, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 13, 1956, Ser. No. 559,045 Claims. (Cl. 257--297) This invention relates to air conditioning and, more particularly, to an air conditioning system of the induction type in which primary air is treated at a central station and supplied to room units, discharge of the primary air within the room unit inducing secondary air from the area being conditioned within the unit through a heat exchanger which adjusts its sensible heat, the mixture of primary and secondary air being discharged in the area being conditioned.

In Carrier Patent No. 2,363,294, granted November 1, 1944, there is disclosed an air conditioning system of this general type for use in air conditioning multi-room buildings. This system contemplates the supply of conditioned air from a central station at high velocity and static pressure through small conduits to room units placed in the rooms being conditioned. Each room unit includes a heat exchanger through which cold or hot water may be passed depending upon temperature conditions eXteriorly of the building. The stream of conditioned primary air (cold or warm) from the central station is discharged within the unit at a velocity such as to induce a secondary stream of room air into the unit through the heat exchanger to mix therewith. The mixture of primary and secondary air is then discharged into the room to cool or to heat the same.

The chief object of the present invention is to provide an improved air conditioning system of the induction type.

An object of the. invention is to provide an air conditioning system containing room units, certain of the room units being supplied with primary air in tandem.

A further object is to provide an air conditioning unit for use in systems of this general type including an improved damper arrangement to regulate the pressure of air discharged within the unit. Other objects of the invention will be readily perceived from the following description.

This invention relates to an air conditioning system for multi-room building structures comprising, in combination, means to condition primary air for supply to a plurality of areas being conditioned, a plurality of room units disposed in said area, means to supply primary air to the room units including a fan, at least one riser extending substantially perpendicularly of the structure, and at least one run-out connecting a room unit to the riser, each room unit comprising a plenum member adapted to be connected to the run-out, a plurality of spaced nozzle members connected to the plenum member adjacent the side wall thereof, a heat exchange member placed below the plenum chamber and said nozzle members, discharge of primary air through the nozzle members inducing a stream of secondary air from the area being conditioned upward through the heat exchange member in heat exchange relation with medium passing therethrough to mix with the primary air being discharged from the plenum member through the nozzle members, and means for discharging the mixture of primary and secondary air into the area being conditioned, means for treating a heat exchange medium for supply to the heat exchangers of the units, means for supplying the medium to the heat exchangers and for returning the medium from the heat exchangers to the supply means, and a conduit connecting a first unit with a second unit whereby primary air may be supplied from the first unit to the second unit without interfering with the air balance of the first unit.

The attached drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of an air conditioning system illustrating the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of room units disposed in an area to be conditioned;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a base unit of the room unit;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of a room unit; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the damper arrangement.

Referring to the drawings, in FIGURE 1 there is shown suitable air conditioning apparatus designated generally at 102, such apparatus being contained in a casing 103. The apparatus may be disposed in any suitable place in the basement, on the roof, or in a storage space of building served thereby. A fan 104 is provided to draw air within casing 103, the air being conditioned in any desired manner during its passage through casing 103, and then to discharge the conditioned air at relatively high static pressure and high velocity into a primary air conduit such as riser 105-.

The conditioning apparatus illustrate-d at 102 may be of any desired type and it is understood that the present invention is not limited with respect to the apparatus illustrated. As illustrated, apparatus 102 includes a plurality of dampers 106 through which air is drawn into casing 103 from the exterior of the building, a filter 107, a preheating coil 108 through which steam may be passed to preheat air drawn into casing 103, sprays 109, a dehumidification or cooling coil 110 and a reheating coil 111. In such apparatus primary air is suitably conditioned in accordance with the requirements of the area to be conditioned.

Conditioned primary air is forced through riser 10-5 by fan 104 and through run-outs 112 to the room conditioning units 2 placed in the various areas 114 to be conditioned. The conditioned primary air is discharged at relatively high velocity into units 2 and serves to induce a constant flow of secondary air within the unit from the areas 114 being conditioned.

Heat exchange medium, such as water, varied in temperature in accordance with conditions existing exteriorly of the building is supplied to the heat exchange members 4 of the room units 2. A cooler 115 is provided forming part of a refrigeration system (not shown) to furnish cold water to the room unit heat exchanger members and to the cooling coil 110 of the central station apparatus 102. A pump 116 passes water through line 117 to cooler 115, water being cooled therein and supplied through line 1 18 and line 119 to cooling coil 110, water returning to the pump from cooling coil 110 through line 120 and line 121.

Pump 116 also aids in supplying cold water for the room heat exchangers. Such water passes through line 118 and line 122, a three-way valve 123 being placed in line 1 22 for a purpose hereinafter described, to secondary pump 124 which forwards the water through line 125 to the heat exchangers of the various room units. Water supplied to the heat exchangers of the various room units is returned through return line 126, line 127, line 121, pumrp 116 and line 117 to cooler 115.

During the heating season, when it is desired to supply hot Water to the heat exchangers of the room units, threeway valve 123 is manipulated to close line 122 and to open line 128 connecting heater 129 with pump 124. The heated water then passes fiom pump 124 through line 125 to the unit heat exchangers and returns to heater 129 through return line 126 and line 130'.

In FIGURE 2, air conditioning units 2 are shown in place beneath windows of a room of the multi-room structure being treated. Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, each room unit 2 includes a base unit 3, a heat exchanger member 4 such as a serpentile coil and a casing or housing 5 having an inlet 6 and an outlet 7. It will be appreciated under some circumstances housing 5 may be omitted and the base unit 3 and heat exchanger member 4 furred in, if desired. In such cases, of course, the inlet and outlet are provided in the furred in structure to permit room air to be induced into the unit and the treated air to be su-p plied to the room.

Base unit 3 comprises a plenum member 10 containing two separate chambers 11 and 12,, chamber 12 being placed below chamber 11 in the plenum. Chamber 11 is connected to the central station 102 by riser 105 and runout 112, as previously described, in order that a stream of primary air or conditioned air may be supplied at high.

velocity and high static pressure to each air condition ng unit.

Chambers 11 and 12 are separated by a damper arrangement 13 hereinafter described. Plenum member 10 is formed of a back sheet 20, a wrapper 21 and end panels 22. Suitable openings are formed in panels 22 to receive a fitting (not shown) connecting upper chamber 11 to run-out 112. A similar fitting may be attached to the opposite end of the unit to permit a second unit to receive conditioned air from chamber 11 of unit 2.

The room tmit so described is disclosed in copending application, Serial No. 559,046 filed January 13, 1956, to which reference is made for a more complete description.

Damper arrangement 13 is shown in more detail in FIGURE 5. The damper arrangement comprises a plate 1 3' having an opening 14 therein to permit passage of air from chamber 11 to chamber 12. A damper. metering plate 15 is provided mounted upon rods 16, journaled in tabs 16 formed in damper plate 13-. Damper metering plate 15 is connected by suitable linkage 17 to a control 18, rotation of control 1 8 rotating or oscillating metering plate 15 toward or away from opening 14 in plate 13- as indicated by the arrow, thus regulating passage of air from chamber 11 to chamber 12 to maintain a desired static pressure chamber 12. Preferably, plate 15 carries a sealing member 15' of sponge rubber or similar material.

A plurality of spaced nozzle members 23 are attached to lower chamber 12, wrapper 21 having openings therein to permit passage of conditioned air from chamber 12 to the nozzle members. Each member 23 has a plurality of openings 24 therein through which jets of air are discharged from the nozzle 23 in a substantially upward direction. These nozzle members are more fully described and claimed in application Serial No. 559,062, filed January 13, 1956 (now Patent No. 2,962,953) and reference is made thereto for a more complete description of the nozzle members.

Triangular members 25 are attached to the end panels 22. Coil 4 is attached to and supported by triangular members 25. Coil 4 as best shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, is placed below the nozzle members 23 and the plenum member 10 and extends preferably at an angle to a line drawn perpendicularly of the unit. Preferably, a condensate pan 27 is placed below the lower-most portion of coil 4. It will be noted that pan 27 does not extend completely beneath the whole coil 4 since any slight amount of condensate collected on coil 4 drips along the fins downwardly and falls into pan 27. It is intended that this unit operate with a dry coil, pan 27 being provided only to meet temporary conditions such as faulty start-up of the system.

If desired a filter or lint screen 40 may be placed beneath coil 4 to filter lint etc. from the stream of secondary air induced into the unit.

As previously described, base unit 3 and coil 4 may be tuned in, if desired. Preferably, however, the air conditioning unit 2 is mounted on a wall of the room being treated. The unit including the coil may be placed 4 to 12 inches, for example, from the floor of the area being treated. To permit such wall suspension, unit 3 is provided with hook members 29 adapted to hook over and be attached to a strip member (not shown) extending along the wall of the area being conditioned.

Preferably housing 5 is composed of a cover 30 (refer to FIGURES 2 and 4) having the outlet 7 therein, a removable panel 3 1 concealing the front of the unit and end panels (not shown). Housing 5 does not contain a base so that the bottom of unit 3 is open permitting secondary air from the area being conditioned to be drawn into the unit through the bottom thereof. Cover 30 carries hooks 34 which permit the housing to be suspended from the wall strip, referred to above.

Preferably the outer wall 21' of plenum member 10 cooperates with the cover 30 and panel -31 to form a diffuser thus permitting more satisfactory mixing of the streams of primary and secondary air.

It will be appreciated the inner wall of plenum member 10 may be covered by suitable sound absorbing material to decrease the level of noise created during the passage of air from the central station 102 to the unit 2. Suitable baflies 12 carrying sound absorbing material may be placed in lower chamber 12 to further decrease the noise level of the unit.

It will be observed, referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, that the upper chamber 11 of the plenum 16 of one room unit may be connected to the upper chamber 11 of a second plenum 10 of a second room unit by means of a conduit 131 that is to say, two room units may be placed in tandem and supplied through run-out 112. If desired, a series of room units may be so connected by conduits connecting the upper chambers 11. These units may be placed in tandem or series without interfering with the balancing of the various units since damper arrangement 13 permits a desired static pressure to be maintained in the lower chamber 12 of each unit. This arrangement provides many advantages from the standpoint of economy in manufacture and installation of the system.

In operation, pumps 116, 124 supply medium, either hot or cold water depending upon conditions exteriorly of the building structure and seasonal conditions, to the heat exchangers 4 of the various room units. Fan 104 supplies conditioned primary air from central station 102 through riser and run-outs 112 to the upper chamber 11 of the plenums 10 of the various base units 3. It will be appreciated certain of the chambers 11 of plenums 10 are connected by conduits 130 to permit such units to be supplied in tandem or in series directly from the upper chamber 111 connected to run-out 1 1-2. Air in each room unit passes through chamber 11 and through the damper arrangement to chamber 12, static pressure in chamber 12 being regulated by means of the damper plate 15' to maintain a desired static pressure. Jets of air are discharged from chamber 12 through nozzle members 23 at a predetermined velocity. Primary air discharged through nozzle members 23 induces secondary air from the area being conditioned through inlet 6 and heat exchangers 4 in heat exchange relation with heat exchange medium passing through the coil. The stream of secondary air after passage through heat exchanger 4 mixes with the streams of primary air being discharged from nozzle members 23. The mixture of primary and secondary air is discharged through outlet 7 into the areas being con di-tioned.

It will be understood, while the units have been described as being placed beneath windows of a room, the units may be arranged horizontally, if desired.

The damper may extend along a substantial part of the unit length if desired to assure uniform distribution of treated air within lower chamber 12 of plenum 10.

The present invention provides an improved air conditioning system of the induction type. In the air conditioning system of the present invention, economies are effected in manufacturing costs and in costs of installation by the provision of air supply to a plurality of units connected in tandem or in series. The damper arrangement provided in this room unit is simple, compact and maintains securely a desired static pressure within the lower chamber of the plenum member.

While we have described a preferred embodiment of the invention it will be understood the invention is not limited thereto since it may be otherwise embodied in the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. In an air conditioning system for multi-room building structures, the combination of means to condition primary air for supply to a plurality of areas being conditioned; a plurality of room units including a first unit and a second unit disposed in said areas; means to supply primary air to the room units including a fan, at least one riser extending substantially perpendicularly of the structure, and a run-out connecting the first unit to the riser; each room unit comprising a base unit including a plenum member, said plenum member comprising two separate chambers, means providing passage of treated air from one chamber to the second chamber, means regulating passage of air from the first chamber to the second chamber to maintain substantially a desired pressure within the second chamber, said first chamber being connected to the run-out, air discharge means connected to the second chamber, a heat exchange member, discharge of primary air through the discharge means inducing a stream of secondary air from the area being conditioned through the heat exchange member to mix with the primary air being discharged from the second chamber, and means for discharging the mixture of primary and secondary air within the area being conditioned; means for treating a heat exchange medium for supply to the heat exchangers of the units, means for supplying the medium to the heat exchangers and for returning the medium from the heat exchangers to the supply means;

and a conduit connecting the first chamber of the first unit with the first chamber of the second unit whereby primary air may be supplied from the first chamber of the first unit to the first chamber of the second unit without interfering with the air balance of the first unit.

2. Air conditioning system according to claim 1 in which the first unit includes a plenum member in which the second chamber is placed below the first chamber.

3. Air conditioning system according to claim 2 in which the air discharge means of each room unit comprises a plurality of spaced nozzle members attached to the side Wall of the second chamber, each nozzle member including a plurality of openings through which continuous jets of primary air are discharged.

4. In an air conditioning system for multi-room building structures, the combination of means to condition primary air for supply to a plurality of areas being conditioned, a plurality of room units including a first unit and a second unit disposed in said areas, means to supply primary air to the room units inculding a fan, at least one riser extending substantially perpendicularly of the structure, and a run-out connecting the first unit to the riser; each room unit comprising a base unit including a plenum-member, said plenum comprising two separate chambers substantially disposed one above the other, means providing passage of treated air from one chamber to the second chamber, means regulating passage of air from the first chamber to the second chamber to maintain substantially a desired pressure within the second chamber, said first chamber being connected to the runout, air discharge means connected to the second chamber, a heat exchange member, said heat exchange member being placed below the plenum member and extending at an angle to a line drawn perpendicularly through the unit, discharge of primary air through the discharge means inducing a stream of secondary air from the area being conditioned through the heat exchange member to mix with the primary air being discharged from the second chamber, and means for dicharging the mixture of primary and secondary air within the area being conditioned; means for treating a heat exchange medium for supply to the heat exchangers of the units; means for supplying the medium to the heat exchangers and for returning the medium from the heat exchangers to the supply means; and a conduit connecting the first chamber of the first unit with the first chamber of the second unit whereby primary air may be supplied to the first chamber of the second unit without interfering with the air balance of the first unit.

5. An air conditioning system according to claim 4 in which the second chamber of the plenum member of each room unit is placed below the first chamber of the plenum member.

6. Air conditioning system according to claim 5 in which the air discharge means of each room unit comprise a plurality of spaced nozzle members placed adjacent the side walls of the second chamber of the plenum member, each nozzle member including a plurality of openings through which jets of primary air are discharged in a substantially vertical direction.

7. In an air conditioning unit for use in the air conditioning of multi-room buildings, the combination of a base unit including a plenum member, a damper arrangement disposed within the plenum member to separate the plenum member into separate chambers and to regulate passage of treated air from one chamber to the second chamber thereby maintaining substantially a desired pressure within the second chamber, said first chamber being adapted to be connected to a source of supply of primary air, said damper arrangement comprising a damper metering plate, a damper plate disposed below the metering plate, a sealing member carried by the damper plate, means to support the damper plate from the metering plate, a control, and linkage connecting the control with the metering plate whereby movement of the control is transmitted to the metering plate, air discharge means connected to the second chamber, a heat exchange member adapted to be connected to a source of supply of heat exchange medium, discharge of primary air through the discharge means inducing a stream of secondary air from the area being conditioned through the heat exchange member in heat exchange relation with medium passing therethrough to mix with the primary air being discharged from the second chamber, and means for discharging the mixture of primary and secondary air within the area being conditioned.

8. An air conditioning unit according to claim 7 in which the second chamber is placed below the first chamber.

9. An air conditioning unit according to claim 8 in which rotation of the control of the damper arrangement imparts oscillating movement to the damper plate to move a sealing member carried thereby toward or from the opening in the damper metering plate.

10. An air conditioning unit according to claim 9 in which the damper plate is carried by arms journaled in tabs extending from the damper metering plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,159,276 Lawless May 23, 1939 2,181,529 Albero Nov. 28, 1939 2,287,268 Palmer June 23, 1942 2,363,294 Carrier Nov. 21, 1944 2,492,757 Meek Dec. 27, 1949 2,503,764 Ott Apr. 11, 1950 2,567,758 Ashley Sept. 11, 1951 2,631,613 Bergstrom Mar. 17, 1953 2,758,822 Sauter Aug. 14, 1956 

